The Graduate School

The NACHOS Graduate School (GS) is interdisciplinary in nature and brings together researchers from the fields of economics, social sciences and the humanities. Its aim is to take a holistic view of innovation processes – from the introduction and implementation to the establishment of innovations in business and society – with particular attention to ethical and cultural contexts. The Graduate School will run from January 2024 to the end of December 2027. Following an administrative lead-up period, individual PhD projects were able to commence in November 2024, with all other PhD projects starting in spring 2025.

The analysis and modelling of the views and actions of the groups of people involved form the core of the Graduate School and its sub-projects. The models derived from this are used specifically to shape innovation processes. The work of the Graduate School is carried out by an interdisciplinary team that collaborates closely both internally and with various partner organisations.

The Graduate School is led by five male professors and three female professors acting as Principal Investigators (PIs). Organisationally, the ESF-GS NACHOS comprises eight sub-projects, each supervised by a responsible PI. At least one PhD project is assigned to each sub-project.

Two PIs in each sub-project are experts in one of the four dimensions of innovation:

• Introduction,

• Implementation

• Establishment

• Culture and Ethics.

Within each dimension, the specialist focus of the participating experts is complementary: on the one hand, it lies in analysis and modelling; on the other, in modelling and design.